HN  OPEN  LETTER 


^    >    DESCRIPTIVE  OF 


DR.  ^^fe^^^^^l^Ti^^)  TREATMENT  AND  CURE 

DRUNKENNESS. 


The  following  letter  was  written  by  a  gentleman  in  Boone  Co., 
Iowa,  to  his  friend  in  Virginia.  Cass  Co.,  Illinois.  It  was  sent  to  us 
that  we  might  vouch  for  its  truth,  and  it  so  nearly  touches  the 
facts  relative  to  our  treatment  for  the  Liquor  Habit,  that  we  re- 
produce it  in  type  for  the  benefit  of  the  many.  The  writer  was  never 
here,  and  we  do  not  know  him  personally,  but  as  above,  his  letter 
is  a  truthful  recital  of  facts,  and  as  such,  we  commend  it  to  all 
interested  for  a  thorough  and  careful  reading. 

Dwight.  111.  The  Leslie  E.  Keeley  Co. 

Boone.  Iowa,  March  12.  1891. 
Henry  Coleman,  Esq.,  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Dear  Sir  :  You  will  doubtless  remember  I  commenced  to  tell  you 
about  some  parties  who  went  from  here  to  be  doctored  for  the  Alcohol 
and  Opium  Habits,  and  that  I  was  interrupted  by  some  people  coming 
into  the  office.  You  know  what  havoc  whiskey  has  made  in  my 
family,  and  how  it  has  affected  my  worldly  prospects,  aside  from  the 
care  and  worry  of  seeing  two  gifted  brothers  go  to  perdition  under 
the  influence  of  the  hellish  stuff,  and  you  will  understand  why  I  take 
an  interest  in  the  matter  and  devote  considerable  time  to  writing- 
letters  to  those  who  will  use  the  facts  and  information  by  placing 
them  in  the  hands  of  people  who  have  friends  they  would  like  to 
save  —  and  can  save  if  they  will. 

Many  people  doubtless  see  the  advertisements  and  circulars  of 
Dr.  Leslie  E.  Keeley,  of  Dwight,  111.,  and  pass  them  by.  thinking 
they  are  the  advertisements  of  one  of  the  many  medical  quacks  who 
flood  the  country  with  printed  matter,  but  it  is  a  mislake.  When 
the  first  patients  from  here  came  home  Cured,  it  seemed  to  me  to 
open  up  a  possibility  for  doing  a  great  deal  of  good  by  placing  the 
facts  in  the  hands  of  those  who  need  help,  provided  that  a  thorough 
investigation  showed  even  a  reasonably  large  percentage  of  cures, 
but  I  wanted  to  be  sure  of  this  before  mixing  my  name  up  with  it 
in  any  way.  With  this  end  in  view  I  made  inquiries, — verbally  and 
by  letter  —  in  every  direction,  and  the  more  I  investigated  the  more 
enthusiastic  I  became.  I  found  that  Dr.  Keeley  is  a  regular  prac- 
ticing physician;  with- over  thirty  years  experience :  was  an  army 
surgeon,  and  is  now  surgeon  of  the  C.  &  A.  R.  R.:  that  his  treatment 
for  the  Alcohol  Habit  is  not  a  "  discovery,'"  in  the  sense  that  term  is 
generally  used,  but  is  the  result  of  long  years  of  patient  study  and 
scientific  research,  commencing  back  during  his  army  experience. 
He  has  all  the  regular  physician's  prejudice  with  reference  to  every- 
thing which  in  the  etiquette  of  the  profession  is  called  quackery, 
and  for  years  after  it  was  demonstrated  beyond  any  doubt  that  his 
treatment  of  the  Alcohol  and  Opium  Habits  had  been  brought  to 
perfection,  no  public  announcement  was  made.  In  the  meantime, 
the  information  that  men  were  being  Cured  of  these  habits  at  Dwight 
was  passed  from  one  to  another,  and  patients  went  from  all  parts 
of  the  United  States.  A  light  of  such  magnitude  could  not  remain 
long  "hid  under  a  bushel,''  and  about  eleven  years  ago  his  practice 
became  so  large  and  his  correspondence  so  heavy  he  was  forced  into 
print.  Xow  the  pressure  has  become  so  great  he  has  found  it  neces- 
sary to  establish  branch  offices  in  several  states,  and  place  physicians 
in  charge  who  have  received  a  thorough  trainiug  in  his  Dwight  office. 

To  convey  a  general  idea  of  what  is  being  done,  I  will  give  you 
the  history  of  a  few  cases. 


Wm.  Marsh  is  the  first  who  went  from  here.  He  had  built  up 
a  prosperous  business,  and  aside  from  his  one  bad  habit,  no  one  of 
my  acquaintances  had  any  brighter  prospects.  He  informs  me  that 
he  was  for  a  long  time  on  a  cattle  ranch  out  West,  where  whiskey 
was  furnished  by  the  barrel,  and  drank  instead  of  water ;  he  always 
believed  he  had  the  habit  under  perfect  control,  but  when  he  tried 
to  refrain  from  drinking  found  that  instead  of  having  the  habit,  the 
habit  had  him.  He  became  unfitted  for  business,  but  was  utterly 
powerless  to  help  himself ;  says  he  has  many  times  tried  to  get 
through  a  night  without  drink,  but  could  not  sleep,  and  before 
morning  would  be  compelled  to  drink  to  get  a  little  rest.  By  some 
means  his  wife  happened  to  see  the  article  in  which  Bob  Harris, 
editor  of  the  Missouri  Valley  Times,  tells  what  was  done  for  him, 
and  this  led  to  a  correspondence  with  Dr.  Keeley,  with  the  result  that 
Mr.  Marsh  went  to  Dwight.  About  a  month  later  he  came  home 
and  one  of  his  nearest  neighbors  did  not  recognize  him.  I  have  dealt 
with  him  for  fifteen  years,  yet  when  he  spoke  to  me  I  supposed  he 
was  a  stranger,  and  it  was  only  when  he  laughed  at  my  mistake  that 
I  recognized  him.  All  the  ravages  of  years  of  hard  drinking  had 
disappeared,  and  he  seemed  to  be  just  as  he  was  fifteen  years  ago. 
He  has  told  me  he  would  not,  to  save  all  the  expense  and  loss  of 
time  occasioned  by  his  visit  to  Dwight,  go  through  the  struggle  he 
has  many  times  made  when  trying  to  pass  a  single  night  without 
drink.  He  immediately  went  to  work  to  induce  others  to  go  —  and 
it  is  pertinent  to  this  subject  to  say  that  now  —  eighteen  months  later 
—  he  is  still  working  faithfully,  and  when  necessary  has  given  financial 
aid.  The  first  one  he  succeeded  with,  was  the  son  of  one  of  our 
wealthiest  men.  A  fine  fellow  who  had  become  a  complete  wreck, 
and  who,  without  the  help  that  Dr.  Keeley  gave  him,  would  have 
died.  He  came  home  a  sober  man,  and  to-day  he  is  as  fine  a  speci- 
men of  manhood  as  can  be  found  in  our  town.  While  talking  with 
me  he  made  a  remark  that  will  apply  to  the  condition  of  ninety-nine 
out  of  every  hundred  hard  drinkers.  He  said,  "Ialwa^ys  claimed, 
just  as  all  drinkers  do,  that  I  could  quit  any  time,  but  I  knew  better, 
and  every  man  knows  it  who  has  the  habit  fastened  on  him."  Now 
he  says  the  smell  of  whisky  has  no  more  attraction  for  him  than  if 
he  had  never  tasted  it. 

These  men  then  worked  together  and  sent  many  others.  No 
two  men  ever  accomplished  more  real  and  lasting  good  than  they 
have  done  here  and  elsewhere  during  the  last  eighteen  months. 

Wm.  W.,  one  of  the  smartest  and  finest  appearing  conductors  on 
the  C.  &  N.  W.  K.  R.  lost  his  position  through  drink.  He  went  to 
Nebraska,  but  it  was  the  "same  old  story."  Finally,  one  of  his 
family  went  out  and  took  him  to  Dwight.  A  few  days  after  he  wrote 
home  that  all  the  gold  in  Boone  would  not  tempt  him  to  leave  until 
Dr.  Keeley  told  him  to  go.  On  his  return  the  Railroad  Company 
gave  him  his  old  position,  which  he  now  holds. 

A  professional  man,  a  lawyer,  who  has^  no  superior  in  central 
Iowa,  had  passed  the  point  where  ' '  self  help  "  is  possible.  He  too, 
went  to  Dwight,  and  on  his  return  I  consulted  him  with  a  view  to 
sending  a  friend.  He  said,  "send  him  along  —  its  a  sure  thing." 
He  said  he  went  there  skeptical  —  believing  there  was  something 
back  of  it,  but  all  doubts  were  dissipated  when  he  saw  what  was 
being  done.  Referring  to  my  brother  who  died  here,  he  said,  "if 
Warren  were  alive  I  would  be  willing  to  put  up  a  thousand  dollars 
and  forfeit  it  if  Dr.  Keeley  could  not  make  a  sober  man  of  him." 

A  neighbor  of  mine,  Bob  H.,  passes  my  house  going  to  and  from 
his  business.  One  day  I  met  him,  looking  more  like  the  boy  of 
fifteen  years  ago  than  the  man  of  later  years.  As  we  shook  hands  I 
said  to  him,  "what  have  you  been  doing  to  yourself?  You  look 
better  than  at  any  time  during  the  last  fifteen  years."  His  face 
brightened  up  all  over,  and  his  eyes  fairly  twinkled  as  he  said,  "I 
have  been  over  to  Dwight  getting  the  v/hiskey  taken  out  of  me ;  say, 
don't  it  beat  all  that  Dr.  Keeley  could  take  out  of  me  in  twenty-one 
days,  what  I  have  been  twenty  years  putting  in  ?  " 

I  could  fill  a  quire  of  paper  with  evidence  of  this  kind,  but  I  do 
not  think  it  necessary,  as  one  history  would  be  a  repetition  of 
another. 

The  net  results  in  Boone  and  immediate  vicinity  are,  that  forty- 
one  men  —  good  men  —  who  eighteen  months  ago  were  down  —  many 


of  them  to  the  very  worst  condition,  physically,  to  which  alcohol 
can  drag  a  human  being,  are  to-day  bright,  fresh  faced  men,  with 
nothing  in  their  appearance  or  actions  to  indicate  that  they  were 
ever  victims  of  the  Alcohol  Habit.  They  have  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  all,  for  the  reason  that  their  looks  and  actions  show  that 
they  are  cured,  and  are  using  no  will  power  to  refrain  from  drinking. 

In  communities  where  the  facts  are  not  generally  known,  the 
difficulty  is  to  induce*the  first  one  to  go.  Men  who  have  the  Alcohol- 
IJabit  are  invariably  sensitive,  and  have  a  morbid  dread  of  some- 
thing— they  don't  know  just  what  —  and  they  make  excuses  for 
delay.  They  are  afraid  their  acquaintances  will  make  slighting 
remarks;  they  have  heard  of  inebriate  asylums  and  hospitals,  where 
patients  are  placed  in  confinement,  and  every  article  of  food  is  satu- 
rated with  whiskey  ;  they  remember  what  they  have  suffered  when 
vainly  struggling  to  resist  the  horrible  craving,  and  fear  they  will 
be  forced  to  go  through  it  again,  etc,  etc.  This  sensitiveness  and 
morbid  dread  is  one  of  the  direct  results  of  the  use  of  Alcohol,  and 
all  of  Dr.  Keeley's  patients  laugh  about  it  when  they  come  home, 
and  talk  about  their  former  condition  and  Cure  as  freely  as  though 
they  had  been  doctored  for  a  run  of  fever.  They  say  that  when  they 
look  back  at  their  condition  before  Cure,  it  all  seems  like  a  horrible 
nightmare. 

No  one  will  have  slighting  remarks  to  make  :  here,  when  a  man 
comes  home  from- Dwight  everybody  is  -ready  to  shake  hands  and 
congratulate  him,  just  as  they  would  if  he  had  come  from  under  a 
dangerous  surgical  operation.  Yesterday  a  man  just  returned,  came 
into  my  office,  and  while  describing  the  wonderful  Cures  being  per- 
formed at  Dwight,  said  :  "One  thing  here  surprises  me.  Men  who 
have  not  noticed  me  for  years  come  up  and  shake  hands  and  wish 
me  all  manner  of  good  things."  Many  of  our  business  men  have 
given  financial  aid  when  needed,  and  all  say.  "G-od  speed." 

Dr.  Keeley  is  not  running  an  asylum  nor  a  hospital,  and  there  is 
no  confinement  behind  stone  walls  and  iron  bars.  He  is  a  regular 
physician,  doing  an  office  practice,  and  all  alike  —  rich  and  poor  — 
receive  the  same  kind  treatment  and  attention.  His  patients  go  to 
boarding  houses,  use  his  Remedies  there,  and  report  to  him  four 
times  daily  at  his  general  office  for  Auxiliary  Treatment,  which  is 
given  hypbdermically.  All  enjoy  the  greatest  liberty  during  the 
three  weeks  of  their  stay,  and  on  their  return  have  none  but  good 
words  to  say  concerning  the  care  and  kindness  received  at  Dr. 
Keeley's  hands. 

Dr.  Keeley  does  not  shut  his  patients  off  from  the  use  of  whiskey 
in  the  commencement  of  his  Treatment.  He  asks  them  for  the  vile 
stuff  they  generally  g-o  loaded  with,  but  supplies  them  with  what 
they  need  of  pure  whiskey  and  desires  them  to  use  what  they  must 
to  keep  them  from  being' restless  and  nervous.  They  tell  me  that 
after  a  few  days  they  hand  Dr.  Keeley  their  bottles,  saying  they  have 
no  further  use*  for  them,  and  then  they  realize  they  are  getting  back 
among  men  again. 

No  one  should  hesitate,  believing  he  will  meet  a  gang  of  low- 
down  roughs  at  Dwight.  That  is  not  the  class  of  men  that  go  there. 
It  is  the  better  class  of  men  ;  those  who  see  they  are  being  ruined 
mentally,  morally  and  physically,  losing  their  proper  places  and 
opportunities  in  the  world,  and  want  to  get  back  where  they  belong. 
Men  low  by  nature  do  not  care  how  low  the}^  get,  and  rarely  ever 
make  an  effort  to  get  Cured.  All  with  whom  I  have  conversed  say 
that  Dr.  Keeley's  patients  are  from  the  better  class  of  men  of  all 
professions  and  lines  of  business.  One  of  the  best  lawyers  in  Cen- 
tral Iowa,  says  he  never  met  a  party  of  seventy-five  men  who  would 
average  higher  than  those  he  met  at  Dwight.  I  have  before  me 
now  a  letter  from  a  young  friend  under  Treatment,  from  which  I 
quote:  "lam  getting  along  splendidly,  and  find  myself  associated 
with  as  fine  a  lot  of  gentlemen  as  I  ever  met,  and  the  time  passes 
quite  merrily.  I  took  my  whiskey  regularly  for  two  days  and  then 
refused  it,  and  have  had  no  desire  since." 

The  question  is  oftened  asked,  "Will  it  last?"  All  tell  the 
same  story,  they  are  just  where  they  were  before  they  ever  drank  a 
drop,  and  that  a  man  who  has  once  been  "downed"  and  got  out  of 
it  will  not  deliberately  acquire  the  habit  again.  They  are  older  and 
have  more  stamina  than  when  they  first  meddled  with  Liquor,  and 


they  have  been  through  an  experience  from  which  they  recoil  with 
horror.  The  following  is  from  a  letter  in  my  possession,  written  by 
one  of  Dr.  Keeley's  earlier  patients  :  "  If  I  had  thefeelirg  that  I  am 
using  the  least  little  bit  of  will  power  to  refrain  from  drinking,  I 
would  be  afraid  of  myself  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  I  never  think  of  it 

—  no  more  than  if  I  had  never  tasted  whiskey/1  From  another  I 
quote,  -TI  have  not  one  particle  of  craving  for  alcohol,  and  if  I  ever 
go  back  to  drinking  it  will  be  from  pure  cussedness  and  no  other 
reason."  This  last  quotation  tells  the  whole  story  of  the  very  small 
number  ( five  per- cent )  who  go  back  to  their  former' habit.  They 
leave  Dwight  cured,  and  do  not  claim  after  their  relapse  that  there 
was  any  return  of  the  craving  for  drink.  They  go  back  to  their  old 
bad  company,  and  being  utterly  void  of  respect  for  themselves  or 
their  friends,  deliberately  get  drunk,  as  my  correspondent  puts  it, 
"from  pure  cussedness  and  no  other  reason."  Dr.  Keeley  cures  the 
Alcohol  Habit,  but  he  cannot  put  dignity,  self  respect  and  love  for 
home  and  family  into  a  man  who  never  had  them,  but  if  he  ever  had 
these  qualities  he  will  have  them  again  with  returning  health.  To 
the  man  who  honestly  wishes  to  get  out  of  his  trouble  and  lead  a 
better  life,  the  fear  of  a  relapse  will  be  no  impediment.  If  he  is 
willing  to  help  himself,  after  cure,  to  the  extent  of  avoiding  alcohol 
the  same  as  he  avoids  small  pox  or  other  diseases  for  which  he  has 
no  craving,  his  self  respect  will  help  him  in  the  right  path  to  the  end. 

Another  question  asked  is,  "  What  are  the  after  effects  of  the 
Treatment?"  All  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that  it  effects  a  com- 
plete renovation.  While  Dr.  Keeley's  Treatment  is  entirely  for  the 
Alcohol  and  Opium  Habits,  many  who  go  to  him  have  other  ailments 

—  aggravated  by  indulgence  — which  disappear  with  the  Habit  for 
which  they  take  the  Treatment.  We  know  that  a  great  physical 
change  takes  place,  for  this  reason  :  A  man  with  the  Alcohol  Habit 
has  distorted  views  of  everything ;  an  unpleasant  way  about  him 
that  everyone  recognizes,  but  difficult  to  describe.  The  common 
expression,  "a  complete  wreck,"  tells  the  whole  story  of  his  mental 
and  physical  'condition.  Keep  liquor  away  from  him  twenty-one 
days  and  he  will  be  half  dead.  "When  Dr.  Keeley's  p'atients  return 
after  twenty-one  days'  treatment,  they  look  and  act  as  though  they 
had  been  made  over;  complections  fresh,  all  that  bloated,  care-worn 
look  gone,  and  in  manner  pleasant,  companionable  gentlemen.  They 
all  tell  about  how  good  they  feel.  Simply  breaking  off  from  whiskey 
that  length  of  time  would  have  just  the  opposite  effect,  and  in  many 
cases  would  result  in  death  The  results  show  they  are  men  again, 
just  as  God  intended  them  to  be. 

From  the  foregoing  you  will  get  a  good  general  idea  of  the 
Keeley  Treatment  and  its  results.  If  you  have  a  friend  who  is 
within  the"  power  of  that  worst  of  all  curses  —  alcohol  —  make  him 
understand  that  help  is  within  reach,  and  that  the  doubts  and  mor- 
bid fear  that  hold  him  back  are  utterly  without  foundation;  that 
the  friend  who  urges  him  has  no  selfish  motive,  and  will  ask  him  to 
do  nothing  that  will  ever  be  a  source  of  regret ;  that  he  is  not  in  a 
condition  to  be  the  best  judge  as  to  what  should  be  done,  and  in  this 
way  persuade  him  to  place  himself  in  the  hands  of  his  friends,  satis- 
fled,  they  are  working  for  his  welfare.  After  treatment,  health, 
energy,  courage  and  self  respect  will  return,  and  his  family  and 
friends  will  have  a  hope  and  trust  in  him  they  could  not  have  under 
the  old  order  of  things. 

I  have  given  you  no  fancy  picture,  but  cold,  hard  facts,  the 
truthfulness  of  which  can  be  tested  by  correspondence  with  those 
whose  names  are  freely  given  by  The  Leslie  E.  Keeley  Co. 

This  is  a  practical  temperance  work,  and  its  results  are  tangible, 
sure  and  permanent,  carrying  joy  and  comfort  into  homes  where  all 
is  gloom.  The  happiest  families  I  know,  eighteen  months  ago  could 
see  nothing  ahead  worth  living  for.  The  record  of  what  has  been 
done  by  this  work,  is  an  almost  endless  story  of  men  and  women  re- 
deemed from  a  fate  worse  than  death,  and  from  hundreds  of  happy 
homes  all  over  this  broad  land  goes  up  the  petition  that  G-ocl,  in  His 
wisdom  and  mercy,  may  grant  long  life  and  strength  for  his  noble 
work,  to  the  gray  haired  old  physician  at  Dwight. 

Yours  Very  Sincerely, 

F.  M.  HAVENS. 


